Manufacture of knitted goods



March 28,1939. T. KRASSELT MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED GOODS Filed May 16, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 28, 1939. T. KRASSELT 2,152,415

MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED GOODS Filed May 16, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2718;) Z/MM Patented Mar. 28, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED GOODS Application May 16,1936, Serial No. 80,154 In Germany June 6, 1935 1 Claim.

This invention relates to the manufacture of knitted articles from asbestos yarn which, as sold in the trade, consists of fibres of very short staple length.

It has not hitherto been possible to knit asbestos yarn on a machine owing to the fact that the yarn tears so readily, and it has consequently been necessary to manufacture asbestos articles of clothing and the like either by hand knitting or by weaving. Hand knitted asbestos gloves and the like are, however, very expensive to make, and woven asbestos clothing has the disadvantage that it is extremely stiii and rigid and seriously hampers the movements of the wearer. Moreover woven asbestos clothing is uncomfortable to wear because of its close texture which prevents evaporation from the body. Again, when gloves and similar articles are made from woven asbestos fabric it is necessary to sew together the edges of the fabric at the seams, and here the fire resisting properties of the glove are impaired, so that it fails adequately to protect the wearer.

Hitherto attempts to solve the problem of knitting articles from asbestos yarn on a machine have been directed, but so far without success, towards so improving the machine that the material will no longer tear under the stresses imposed during knitting. The present invention provides a successful solution to the problem by modifying the character of the yarn itself as distinct from the machine.

The invention provides a method of manufacturing knitted articles from asbestos yarn, which consists in first wetting the yarn with a nonoleaginous liquid lubricant which, without deleteriously affecting the structure of the yarn, reduces its inherent tendency to tear to an extent sufiicient to enable it to be knitted mechanically and then knitting the wet yarn to the desired form on amachine.

The preferred lubricant is soap solution, because of its cheapness and oi the ease with which it can be removed from the article after the knitting operation is completed, 1. e. by simply washing the article. Glycerine or substitutes therefor, in aqueous solution, may also be used, but soap is preferred, owing to its cheapness. As further examples of agents which can be used for lubricating the yarn may be mentioned aqueous solutions of starch and soda.

The soap can be applied to the yarn in a very simple manner. The bobbins on which the yarn is spun may simplybe dipped in a bath containing a soap solution, preferably 01 about 5% strength. The soap solution can, for example,

be made by dissolving 1 kg. of soft soap containing 45% fat in 8 litres of warm'water. The bobbins are then placed in position on the machine, preferably after squeezing them to remove excess solution, and the knitting operation carried out before the yarn has had time to dry.

Alternatively the soap solution may be applied to the yarn at the point of knitting by allowing a stream of soap solution to flow over the yarn as it passes to the needles.

' Some methods of carrying the invention into efiect will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are diagrammatic views of three different methods of treating the asbestos yarn so as to render it susceptible of being knitted on a machine; and

Fig. 4 shows a glove knitted on a machine from asbestos yarn treated in accordance with the present invention.

As explained above, the yarn can be treated with the lubricant, e. g. soap solution, by simply dipping the bobbin on which the yarn is wound in a bath of soap solution. Theyarn may however have the soap solution applied continuously as indicated at Figs. 1-3 of the drawings.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 1 the yarn 20 is unwound from a bobbin l0, and led over a guide roller l3, under a roller ll rotatably mounted in a bath I2 containing a soap solution, over a guide roller l4 and through a guide l5 to the needles l6 of a knitting machine.

The arrangement shown in Fig. 2 is similar but in this case the yarn 20 does not actually pass into the bath, but between rollers I I, 2 l the lower of which rotates in the bath and moistens the yarn with soap solution.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 3, the yarn 20 receives a stream of soap solution from a tap ll just before reaching the guide IS, a funnel I8 serving to reserve the excess of soap solution.

By adopting the invention, asbestos articles of clothing of greatly improved properties can be the method according to the invention, however, the suit is extremely pliable and yields readily to movements of the person wearing it. Moreover there is no necessity to provide sewn seams, as the contacting edges of the knitted fabric can be knitted together so as to leave no apparent seam at all. Obviously the manufacture of knitted articles on a machine as distinct from by hand effects a vast saving in cost, as long lengths of endless knitted fabric can be made (e. 3. when making gloves) and subsequently subdivided into the individual articles.

In addition to garments (e. g. gloves, caps, suits, aprons and the like), the method according to the invention can be applied to the manufacture of a great many other asbestos articles, e. g. packing and jointing rings, clutch and brake linings, belting, and fireproof curtains. Knitted curtains have the great advantage over woven curtains that they can be more easily rolled up and do not develop cracks when so rolled. Moreover the knitted material can readily be impregnated with suitable materials, as is for example required in the case of brake linings.

The invention includes, in addition to the method described above, knitted articles made by knitting asbestos yarn on a machine. When knitting gloves, for example, the glove is knitted in the form of a continuous tube comprising a series of sections joined end to end by portions representing the fingers of the glove. The tube is divided, after knitting, into elements each representing a glove and the contacting edgesof the fingers are united by knitting so as to leave no seam. Similarly other articles of clothing, e. g.

jackets, trousers and the like may be knitted in the form of a continuous tube, which is subsequently divided to give the individual garments. It is deemed unnecessary to describe in detail the knitting operation which is conducted in a inanner similar to that adopted for the continuous knitting of garments from wool and other textile materials.

Gloves can also be knitted from asbestos with-' out separate fingers, but merely with a separate thumb piece, which is knitted to the body portion of the glove at the root oi the thumb and also knitted at the end of the portion to receive the four fingers without leaving seams which would be insufllciently resistant to heat. Such a glove is shown in Fig. 4, in which l9 represents the thumb piece, 22 the portion to receive the four fingers, and 23, 24, 25 the hand knitted seams which close the glove.

It is to be understood that the term "asbestos yarn as used herein includes not only yarn made from pure asbestos, but also mixed asbestos yarns (e. g. yarn, made from a mixture of asbestos and cotton) and asbestos yarn with an insertion of cotton, brass wire or other 'material. Such yarns cannotordinarily be knitted mechanically owing to the asbestos tearing, but they can readily be rendered susceptible to mechanical knitting by the process according to the invention.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A method oi. manufacturing knitted articles from asbestos yarn, which consists in first wetting the yarn with an aqueous soap solution and then knitting the wet yarn to the desired form on a machine.

THEODOR KRASSEI IT. 

